Page 111 - Kukanja Gabrijelčič, Mojca, and Maruška Seničar Željeznov, eds. 2018. Teaching Gifted and Talented Children in A New Educational Era. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 111
Excellence in Pupils and Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Science
dependent samples was used to compare the teachers’ attitudes towards
science and the excellence index with regards to the size of the residence
area where they grew up and are living now. ANOVA was used to determine
the differences in socio-demographic indicators of the county with regards
to the mentioned teachers’ attitudes towards science and the excellence
index.
Results
Using descriptive statistics of the teachers’ attitudes towards science, factor
modelling and the varimax rotation analysis were conducted whereby four
factors were extracted in addition to the GK criterion, which explains 59.82
of the common variance. Cronbach alpha is 0.833.
In the structuring of the first factor (Table 2) five variables explain 16.94
of the variance. The first factor is saturated with the following variables: Ed-
ucation in the field of science is necessary for pupils to be more involved in the
technological problems of society; Content of science classes is essential for the
pupils’ development; Science in primary school is necessary so that pupils would
be able to make the right choices in their education; Science must be represented
in primary education as early as possible; and Teachers with less experience
working on scientific topics should also be additionally trained in this area.
With regards to the variables that point to the importance of education in
the field of science, the necessity and representation of the content of sci-
ence in primary school education and the importance of experience and ne-
cessity of further teacher training in this field, we can call the aforementioned
factor Educational-developmental dimension of science.
Five variables are involved in the structuring of the second factor, which ex-
plains 16.44 of the variance. The second factor is saturated with the follow-
ing variables: Science is the foundation of social development; Building a society
rests on scientific studies and If a child loves to learn, (s)he should be directed to
science; Knowing the methods of scientific work is the deciding factor in the deci-
sion whether to teach natural science in the classroom or not and Availability of
resources and aids determines my decision to teach science content. The second
factor, given the variables that point to the importance of teaching natural
sciences as the foundation of social development, can be called Science as a
driver of social development. It contains elements of an educational process
aimed at teaching natural science contents by knowing the work methods
and the availability of resources and aids that are also conditioned by the
teachers’ decisions on content teaching.
In the structuring of the third factor, three variables explain 14.16 of the
109
dependent samples was used to compare the teachers’ attitudes towards
science and the excellence index with regards to the size of the residence
area where they grew up and are living now. ANOVA was used to determine
the differences in socio-demographic indicators of the county with regards
to the mentioned teachers’ attitudes towards science and the excellence
index.
Results
Using descriptive statistics of the teachers’ attitudes towards science, factor
modelling and the varimax rotation analysis were conducted whereby four
factors were extracted in addition to the GK criterion, which explains 59.82
of the common variance. Cronbach alpha is 0.833.
In the structuring of the first factor (Table 2) five variables explain 16.94
of the variance. The first factor is saturated with the following variables: Ed-
ucation in the field of science is necessary for pupils to be more involved in the
technological problems of society; Content of science classes is essential for the
pupils’ development; Science in primary school is necessary so that pupils would
be able to make the right choices in their education; Science must be represented
in primary education as early as possible; and Teachers with less experience
working on scientific topics should also be additionally trained in this area.
With regards to the variables that point to the importance of education in
the field of science, the necessity and representation of the content of sci-
ence in primary school education and the importance of experience and ne-
cessity of further teacher training in this field, we can call the aforementioned
factor Educational-developmental dimension of science.
Five variables are involved in the structuring of the second factor, which ex-
plains 16.44 of the variance. The second factor is saturated with the follow-
ing variables: Science is the foundation of social development; Building a society
rests on scientific studies and If a child loves to learn, (s)he should be directed to
science; Knowing the methods of scientific work is the deciding factor in the deci-
sion whether to teach natural science in the classroom or not and Availability of
resources and aids determines my decision to teach science content. The second
factor, given the variables that point to the importance of teaching natural
sciences as the foundation of social development, can be called Science as a
driver of social development. It contains elements of an educational process
aimed at teaching natural science contents by knowing the work methods
and the availability of resources and aids that are also conditioned by the
teachers’ decisions on content teaching.
In the structuring of the third factor, three variables explain 14.16 of the
109
